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Local Guardsmen Home For The Holidays -- CEREMONY TIME UPDATED
TIME UPDATED 2:37pm 12/21/12 A group of National Guard soldiers who've been gone from Galesburg for most of the year will be giving their loved ones a huge Christmas present a few days early.

The Illinois National Guard says the 444th Chemical Company, based at the Galesburg National Guard Readiness Center on Linwood Road, will be coming home Saturday.

A homecoming ceremony will be held on Saturday at the Readiness Center -- but officials say now the start time has been changed to 10am instead of 11am.

Roughly 120 soldiers from the "Triple Four" were mobilized in mid-February, training in Missisippi before deploying to Kuwait for Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Guard says the soldiers did a lot over there -- acting as support for units based there and operating in the region.

The group -- part of a command cell -- is responsible for saving a half-million dollars in government contracts according to the guard, along with conducting thousands of patrols and securing unexploded bombs and similar items without injury or death.

The group's commander said upon their leaving in February that the 444th that the mission would have the troops rely on their civilian skills possibly more than they would normally.
12 20 12 by Newsroom
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